A Book for a Rainy Day; or, Recollections of the Events of the Years 1766-1833Smith, John Thomas
History
A Book for a Rainy Day; or, Recollections of the Events of the Years 1766-1833
Smith, John Thomas
Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 18th century; Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
[58] Whitefield built his chapel--in 1756, not 1754--on land
leased for seventy-one years from General Fitzroy. He opened it on
November 7th of the same year, preaching a sermon from the text,
“Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ.” A house for the minister and twelve almshouses were added,
and the chapel enlarged. Whitefield proposed to be buried in its
vaults, and told to his congregation, “Messrs. John and Charles
Wesley shall also be buried there. We will all lie together.”
All three were buried elsewhere, but Mrs. Whitefield was buried
here: her remains and those of all other persons, except Augustus
Toplady, were removed to Chingford cemetery when the present
building was begun. A remarkable monument was that to John Bacon,
R.A., the sculptor, with its impressive inscription: “What I was as
an artist seemed to me of some importance while I lived, but what
I really was, as a believer in Jesus Christ, is the only thing of
importance to me now.” After a serious fire in 1857, the original
brick building was altered out of knowledge, and was finally
demolished in 1889. For some years an iron chapel and an appeal for
subscriptions occupied the ground. In 1892 the present ornately
fronted chapel, inscribed “Whitefield Memorial,” was built. In
1903, the present minister, the Reverend C. Silvester Horne,
received “recognition” as the thirteenth minister in succession to
Whitefield.
[59] More correctly, Crab and Walnut Tree Field.
[60] Smith makes a slip in locating the historic fight between
Broughton and Slack in April 1750, at the “Adam and Eve” tavern.
It took place in Broughton’s own Amphitheatre near Adam and Eve
Court in the Oxford Road. Smith correctly states the position
of this Amphitheatre in his _Antient Topography of London_
(1810): “Broughton’s Amphitheatre is still standing; it is at the
south-west corner of Castle Street, Wells Street; the lower part
is a coal shed, the upper a stage for timber.” Its site is now
occupied by No. 62 Castle Street East, close to Adam and Eve Court.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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